She Noticed
by Wacko101
Summary: People didn't stop to think deeper about Phantom. Why would they? He saved their lives from ghosts what else was there to know? So the people of Amity Park were blissfully unaware. No one stopped to pay attention. So no one ever noticed. Until someone did...
1. Chapter 1

**This came to my mind and I really just had to write it down. I might continue this with little one-shots if I get the inspiration but I am not sure. Hope you like it.**

When most people hear the name Danny Phantom they usually think one thing. Hero. There were few exceptions to this, but most people though of him as a hero.

People didn't stop to think deeper. Why would they? He saved their lives from ghosts what else was there to know? So people never stopped to think deeper. Never stopped to think how extraordinarily young Phantom looked. They never stopped to think that someone so young was dead. And they never stopped to think just _how _someone so young had died. The people of Amity Park were blissfully unaware. No one stopped to pay attention. So no one ever noticed.

Until someone did.

It was during the summer. A day like any other day in the town of Amity Park. The town was being attacked; by ghosts. No one ever said it was a normal day, just an average one. Despite the attack on the town the people of Amity Park weren't worried, not really. It wasn't anything they hadn't seen before. They knew what to do. If they saw a ghost they just went away as quietly as possible as to not attract attention. Then Danny Phantom would come and the ghost would be dealt with.

Only something went wrong.

Phantom had been flying over the city at a slow pace waving at any citizens that spotted him and continuing on his way when he was shot at. Again not by a human but one of the ghost's that normally attacked the town, Skulker. The shot hit Phantom on the back making him loose control and spiral into the street below. The few people who were on that particular street screamed and scattered out of the way as Phantom hit the pavement with a loud crunch leaving a crater behind. Phantom got up remarkably quick (considering the hit he had taken) and flew back up to the ghost. He didn't have to go far the ghost was only ten feet off the ground.

"Still after my pelt Skulker? When will you realize that you will never succeed?"

On the ground the crowd winced. What kind of sicko wanted a human pelt? Certainly not one that they wanted to mess with, slowly they all began to back away.

The ghost in question looked outraged.

"I am the Ghost Zones greatest hunter! I will have your pelt!

The fight resumed. Most of the citizens on the street had gotten away. All but one that is. Every time the last citizen tried to run the metal ghost would fire at her. She was stuck.

There was a break in the fight, the metal ghost pulled back with several scorch mark and looking worse for wear. Phantom looked better with only a few scratches and burn marks.

"Like my new upgrades, Whelp?" Skulker asked noticing Phantoms slight pant as he tried to catch his breath. In response Phantom charged at Skulker once again only this time Phantom pulled out a thermos and it shot a blue beam at Skulker. At the same time Skulker fired a net at Phantom. The blue beam hit Skulker and sucked him into the thermos. Only seconds later the net hit Phantom, effectively capturing him. It then continued to electrify him, to the horror of the lone citizen watching from below. Her horror only grew as Phantom fell out of the sky and onto the sidewalk with a loud crack. There was silence.

The girl, who was no more then 23, didn't know what to do. "Phantom? Phantom are you okay?"

There was no answer.

"Phantom?" The girl asked again.

There was still no answer.

The girl hesitated slightly, she probably should run, hanging around would only result in another ghost attack eventually. But she didn't know a lot about ghosts, Phantom could be seriously hurt. Then again he could be fine. But what kind of person would she be if she didn't check to make sure before leaving? So very carefully she walked forward.

He was sprawled out awkwardly on the pavement, his limbs spread out around him. One arm was bent at a completely wrong angle that made her wince, so much for ghosts not getting hurt. The net the ghost had trapped him in was still draped over him but it no longer seemed to be hurting him. She carefully poked it with her finger and when it didn't hurt her pulled it off of him and threw it to the other side of the street. Now she could see Phantoms face. His white hair was was falling over it, his eyes were closed and he looked to be in a lot of pain. She fell to her knees and reached out her arm, still hesitant to touch him. While he was considered a hero by most people he was still a ghost, and while the town of Amity had ghost regularly attack the town they knew next to nothing about them. Gathering her courage she brushed the hair out of Phantom face. Her arm dropped to her side in shock, looking at Phantom in horror.

He was just a kid.

"He looks younger then Trevor." She muttered to herself, think about her little brother Trevor who was turning 17 next week.

"Well his arm is definitely broken. Who knew ghosts could even get hurt?" She said out loud trying not to look at the mangled limb to much, knowing she would be sick if she did.

He looked like he is in a lot of pain, even while unconscious. And she wondered what exactly she was going to do. No one would be around for a while, they knew to steer clear of a ghost attack for at least an hour, even if the ghost wasn't there anymore.

"Maybe I can wake him up." She said aloud trying to come up with a plan.

She reached out to gently touch his shoulder but as soon as her fingers brushed across his shoulder his eyes snapped open. Phantom gasped (Did ghost need to breath?) in pain and she quickly pulled her hand away.

She let him catch his breath because yes, it seemed like he needed to breath, and waited for him to realize she was there.

It only took about a minute for him to come to his senses. In that time she had been watching him she had come to three conclusions.

1. He was a lot younger then she had ever thought.

2. He didn't act like he was dead.

3. She really knew nothing about ghosts, and that bothered her.

So when he did realize she was there she had no intention of leaving him until she at least knew how old he was, at the very least.

"Phantom? Are you okay?"

She could have slapped herself. What kind of question was that? She cleared her throat awkwardly when all he did was stare at her.

"Well you obviously are not okay, sorry for asking that stupid question, I meant to ask do you need my help?"

She finally dragged her eyes over to Phantoms arm. The bone didn't look like it had gone through the skin, something she was very glad about. But it did look like a rather bad break.

"I don't really know anything about injuries, but I can drive you to the hospital? Or do ghosts have some other way of healing bones? I..." She probably would have gone on embarrassing herself if Phantom hadn't finally spoken up and said something.

"That is okay, I don't need to go to the hospital. Can you get me something to bite down on though?"

She nodded running over to a dollar store only a few feet away. Whoever had been working behind the counter was no longer there, having run away with the rest of the street when the ghost had attacked. She rummaged around the isle before finding a pair of socks. Ripping the packaging open she grabbed them and ran back to Phantom.

"Here, don't worry though, they have never been worn."

"You might want to look away." Then in one quick motion he bit down on the sock and before she could do anything he set the bone. She was glad she wasn't very squeamish, even so she cried out. Phantoms face showed the pain he was in for only a minute before he spat the sock out.

"Thanks for that, the sock really helps."

She starred in horror. "Do you need to do this often?"

"Often enough, one can only be thrown into so many buildings before something gives away, and usually its not the building."

"But you never look hurt?"

"I heal fast." Phantom said really looking at her for the first time. "It will only take around an hour before I can use my arm again."

"And no one even noticed." She said rubbing her arms, for the first time noticing how cold it was getting.

"Well no one ever sticks around. Why did you anyway? You could have run to safety as soon as I caught the ghost."

"Well I was going to." She admitted looking away from Phantom ashamed to say she almost left him. "Then I realized I don't really know if you would be alright for sure. I wanted to check, and I am glad I did."

The woman stood up, Phantom attempted to but he must have been in a lot of pain because he stumbled. The woman caught him and helped him to his feet before he could hit the ground again.

"Thank you. What is your name anyway?"

"My name is Emily."

"Thank you Emily. Most people would have walked away."

"I was just doing the right thing."

Phantom smiled at Emily again and again she was struck by how young he looked.

Finally she couldn't help but ask, it was bothering her how much he got hurt, sure he was probably hundreds of years old but he just looked so terribly young. "Phantom, exactly how old are you?"

"What?" He seemed surprised by the question, like she should have walked away by now.

"You just seem so young to be a hero, getting hurt so much, how old are you?" He shrugged.

"Fourteen."

"No how old are you really, how long have you been dead?" Emily asked and paused when she realized how rude that probably sounded. "If you want to tell me I mean! You don't have to I just was curious, I can understand if you don't want to tell me."

Phantom laughed a little and Emily found herself wondering why they had thought he was evil for so long, why they thought he was so inhuman when he clearly did everything they did.

"Fourteen."

No. There was no way. Emily's throat closed up a little, she didn't know what to say.

"Emily? Are you okay?"

She nodded and then choked out the first thing that came to her mind.

"I have a brother you know, his name is Trevor. He is only seventeen, I can't imagine him fighting like you do. For the longest time you were considered a villain too. All ghosts were supposed to be evil. We don't really know a lot about ghosts do we?"

Phantom looked a little unsure on what to say. "You know that ghosts exist, that is a step ahead of the rest of the world."

Emily nodded. "Thank you Phantom, I may not understand ghosts, and I definitely don't understand you, but thank you for saving me. Thank you for protecting the town. How many times have you saved us and we didn't even know it?"

"A few times." Was all Phantom said but he seemed uncomfortable, so it was probably more then a few times.

"Why do you protect us then? You get hurt," She gestured to Phantoms broken arm. "So why?"

"I lived here, still do. I have the power to keep the town safe so why shouldn't I? Anyone else would do the same thing."

Emily starred at Phantom. He really didn't understand how special he was. That not everyone would do what he did. He didn't understand that those were the qualities that made him a hero. But she did. So Emily hugged him, being careful about his arm, and then promptly started walking away.

She couldn't do anything for him now. But next time she heard someone saying something bad about Phantom there was no way that she was going to stand by while they ruined his name. Turning around one last time Emily said, "Come find me anytime you need to talk, and Phantom, you are more of a hero then even you know."

Then she turned around and kept walking, never seeing the smile Phantom gave her.


	2. Chapter 2

After Emily's first encounter with Phantom she had seriously doubted that she would ever see him again. Well that wasn't necessarily true. She would probably see him all the time fighting ghosts but she would probably never talk to him again.

So a few months after their meeting she was surprised when there was a knock on her window. At first she had thought it was a bird and had shrugged it off but then only moments later the knock sounded again. So thinking it was someone throwing something at her window from the ground, she was on the second story after all, Emily opened her window ready to scream at the person. Instead of some idiot teenager however she was greeted with bright glowing green eyes that stood out in the blackness of the night.

She recognized them immediately.

"Phantom?"

"Hey Emily, sorry if I woke you up but can I come inside?"

She backed up from the window allowing him inside.

Phantom floated in slowly and as soon as he was inside fell to the ground holding his side in pain.

"Phantom! What's wrong?"

"A ghost got me good in the side and I saw you from the window and you were the closest person I knew that would be willing to help..." Phantom looked like he would have gone on explaining himself but she had already gotten up and left the room. Before he could think about getting up to follow her she came walking back in holding a white box. She sat down next to him as he had not been able to get up from the spot he had collapsed.

Handing Phantom the first-aid kit she bit her lip nervously. "Here my brother keeps this in our bathroom because he gets hurt playing with his buddies a lot. I don't know how to use any of the stuff in here besides the band-aids though."

Phantom chucked a little before wincing his hand fluttering to his side. "Don't worry I know how to use it all but I might need a little help."

"Okay. I can help out." She said getting ready to see something grotesque like his broken arm again.

"Good." Phantom said rummaging through the supplies they had. "I need you to talk to me, keep me distracted from my wound, got it?"

"Okay but we do need to stop meeting up like this, its not a healthy habit for you."

Phantom smiled a weak smile at her as he unzipped the top half of his suit.

Despite her preparations for seeing the injury Emily had not thought it would look like that. There was what looked like a crater in his side surrounded by black that she was startled to realize was charred flesh. Surrounding the black area the skin was bright red and was blistered.

Quickly looking away she felt her stomach roll around a little and she hoped desperately that she wouldn't puke. Doing that would be both embarrassing and unhelpful.

She though about what she could talk about and when nothing came to mind that she could talk about to distract Phantom she decided to tell him about her.

Still not looking at Phantom she started. "My full name is Emily Elizabeth Connor, I don't think I told you that before. I have my mom and dad and younger brother, Trevor. My little brother in 17 and very intelligent. He is on the Casper high soccer team and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is a huge supporter of Phantom by the way."

She risked a quick glance at him and saw that he was applying multiple things to the wound and was wincing every time he touched it. Hoping that her talking was actually helping and not distracting him she continued on.

"I am 23 and going to Amity University for a degree in law, I am stuck living with my parents until I pass and get enough money to buy an apartment. I love reading and my favorite color is orange. I love watching horror movies and am terrified of clowns."

Emily paused unsure of what to say next before thinking of what her best friend Lindsay would say if she saw what was happening to her now.

"I have a best friend, friends forever since freshmen year. Her name is Lindsay and if she could see what was happening now she would probably slap me in the back of my head for getting into this situation before helping me out in any possible way. She is awesome and also a huge Phantom lover. Not like my brother though, she is an actual Phantom lover but she isn't like the people in that fan club you have. She is a little more mellow then that. If only a little."

She heard a chuckle and looked back up at Phantom who was starting to zip his suit back over the ace-bandage he had wrapped around his side.

"She sounds great. Everyone needs a good friend like that."

Emily smiled thinking about my friend. They had went out to lunch yesterday to catch up and it had been great talking to her. She hadn't told her about her meeting with Phantom though. She hadn't wanted her freaking out.

"Are you good now?" Emily asked him as she stood up before helping him up from the floor and moving him over to her bed to sit down on.

"I think I will survive." He cracked a smile at his own joke before turning more serious. "Thank you I wouldn't have been able to get to a first-aid kit fast enough."

"Anytime you need it. It's usually in the bathroom but next time you come to visit me how about it's just to talk?" Emily asked completely serious.

"Agreed." Phantom said also serious.

"Who did this to you anyway?" Emily asked wondering which of the many ghosts had gotten that good of a hit on him.

"It was a ghost named Fright Knight."

Emily frowned not recognizing the name.

"The creepy ghost with armor on that helped Pariah Dark." Phantom said realizing she didn't know the ghosts by name like he did.

Emily nodded understanding, everyone had at least caught a glimpse of that ghost during the invasion.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Emily asked trying to change the subject.

Phantom looked down slightly and his face seemed to turn a little green.

"Phantom... are you blushing?"

His face turned greener.

"Oh my gosh you are!" Emily said screaming in laughter.

"Yeah its hilarious." Phantom said sourly as she worked on calming herself down.

"Right, right sorry. Okay what else do you need?"

"Well I was hoping I could hang out here for a bit? My side is still in too much pain or me to fly, it wouldn't be for more then an hour."

She nodded. "That would be fine but if one of my parents or my brother comes in you turn invisible. I rather not explain why I have Danny Phantom in my room."

"Deal. Thanks Emily."

"No problem Phantom."

So Emily sat down on her bed next to Phantom wondering what they would do for an hour.

"So you want to be a lawyer?" Phantom asked her.

She nodded. "Yup. Why not right? I can help people."

"That's nice. I wish the Ghost Zone had lawyers. All we have is Walker, this really corrupt ghost that is obsessed with these ridiculous rules."

"How so?" Emily asked wondering what kind of rules the land of the dead would have.

"Like I said, he is corrupt. The rules are almost impossible to follow and no one really knows all of them."

"Hmm. What is the Ghost Zone like then?" Emily asked for the first time wondering where Phantom came from, where all the ghost came from. She knew what the term ' Ghost Zone' meant from a town meeting where the elder Fentons' had tried to explain what to do if a ghost attacked but they hadn't had a lot of information to give. Still she remembered being interested in the Ghost Zone. Now maybe she cold learn about it.

Phantom sighed rubbing the back of his neck, something that was probably a nervous habit he didn't even realize he was doing. "The Ghost Zone is the flip side of the human world..."

She nodded soaking up what he said, crossing her legs on the bed and facing him as he began to describe the strange and mysterious place of the Ghost Zone. Time flew by as he shared what he knew about the Ghost Zone with her, eventually he had no more information to give.

"And that is what I can tell you about the Zone. It's huge though, I haven't even come near exploring all of it, I am not sure if any ghost in the zone has ever been to all of it. Well... not true Clockwork probably has."

Emily blinked unsure of who Clockwork was. She never got the chance to ask though because at that moment she spotted the clock on her nightstand.

"Oh! It's almost midnight!"

"What?" Phantom jumped up, his side no longer seemed to be in horrible pain, to look at the clock for himself.

"Ah man I am going to be in so much trouble!"

"Trouble? Why would you be in trouble?" Emily wondered why Phantom a ghost who lived in the Ghost Zone would be so worried about the time. It wasn't like he had a curfew, did he?

"I am sorry I have to go!"

"Why would you need to go back to the Ghost Zone before twelve?" Emily asked completely confused.

Jumping in the air Phantom floated there for only a minute before flying straight through her wall.

She stood there for a few seconds unsure of what had just happened when Phantoms head suddenly popped back through her wall.

"Who ever said I lived in the Ghost Zone?" With a knowing smirk he flew off again and she heard his laughter echoing through the night.

She could only stare at the wall where his head had been, wondering. Wondering if he did not live in the ghost zone then where could he live?


	3. Chapter 3

**To be clear, when I began writing this story I was not intending for there to be any pairings. And there still won't be. Not between Emily and Phantom or Emily and Danny or anything like that. This is more of a friendship story. Sorry for those who were wishing for something else.**

The next time Emily saw Phantom it was under better conditions.

It was during the day, the sun was shinning and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, something that was a sharp contrast to the weather they had been having recently. Emily had taken the opportunity to go for a walk in the park to get the fresh air and exercise and it seemed almost everyone else in the town had the same idea. The park was packed full of families, joggers, teenagers and dogs running around and Frisbees were flying through the air so much that she was sure multiple people had already been hit in the head.

Still she continued on hoping to find a spot that was less crowded so she could sit down to read. It took a while but she was finally able to find a secluded area that no one was in. It had actually been rather hard to find and she was sure almost no one knew of it so she was sure to be alone. Emily walked to the base of a tree to sit down. She wasn't sure why she was here, she had an important paper due soon and she needed to finish it but with everything that had happened recently with Phantom she felt like she needed a place to just relax a little.

So she opened her book and just let the world fade away.

She wasn't sure how long she just sat like that, in the shade of a tree reading. All she knew was that there was a noticeable difference in where the sun was positioned when she heard a twig snap.

Her head shot up and began looking around for what had caused the disturbance but finding nothing she just shrugged it off as a squirrel and was about to open her book again when she heard someone clear their throat.

This time she gasped and dropped her book, eyes snapping wide as she tried to find whoever was around her.

She didn't have to look far.

Ten feet in front of her Phantom was hovering a couple feet in the air on his back, tilting his head back so he could look at her.

"What book are you reading?" He asked curiously not changing his position at all.

She shook her head embarrassed that he had been able to scare her so easily and decided to go with his sudden appearance.

She picked up the book she had been reading and dusted it off a little as she told him what the book title was, "_A Wrinkle in Time_ by Madeleine L'Engle, have you ever read it?"

Phantom shook his head saying, "No but it looks like you have, many times before."

It was true, she had read _A Wrinkle in Time _so often that the cover was fading and some pages were falling out, still she loved it and refused to replace it.

"It is a very good book." She defended putting it carefully down next to her. "So what are you doing here anyway? You don't seem injured."

Phantom rolled in the air onto his stomach before dropping to the ground. "Well I did say I would try and not do that any more, I am proud to say that so far I have been successful."

Emily smiled. "That's good to hear. But you never said why you were here."

Phantom sat down next to her. "Well, truthfully this is where I normally go when I want to be alone. People normally want to stay in the main section of the park and you can only imagine what would happen if I landed in the middle of _that_."

Emily smiled thinking of the chaos that would ensue if_ the Danny Phantom_ were to land in the middle of a crowded place like the park was today.

"So you come here a lot then?" Emily asked Phantom thinking of all the times she had walked past this spot not thinking anything of it.

"I guess but I normally don't have time to just relax, between fighting ghosts and homew-" Phantom cut off his sentence hoping she wouldn't know what he was going to say. It would give her to many questions he didn't want to answer.

Unfortunately it seemed Emily had caught his little slip up. "Homework? You have homework? So you go to school then?"

Phantom looked away wondering how he was going to explain this one, he was lucky she hadn't asked him where he really lived after the little stunt he had pulled last time he had seen her. Really what had he been thinking? Was he trying to give her clues that he wasn't like other ghosts? Then again she probably already had her suspicious that something was different about him. Deciding that he wouldn't answer any of her questions directly Phantom only gave Emily a knowing smile that made her want to slap him.

"Whatever I will let this go for now. Next time I will just give you over to Lindsay see what she does to you."

"Ah, you wouldn't do that... would you?" Phantom asked wondering if Emily would actually give him over to the worse evil there was, fangirls.

Emily only gave him a smile back, showing that if he wouldn't answer her questions she wouldn't answer his.

After that they lapped into silence soaking up the sun and listening to the wind blow in the trees.

"Do you want to borrow it sometime?" Emily broke the silence with her question.

"What?" Phantom asked snapping back from whatever world he had been visiting in his head.

"_A Wrinkle in Time_? Do you want to borrow it sometime? You said you have never read it before I thought maybe you would want to."

She handed him the book. Phantom carefully took it and started reading the back cover and flipping through the pages fast. "If it is okay with you, sure. It seems interesting. Only I don't have a lot of time to read."

"Its okay. I figured you wouldn't. Take as much time as you need, I pretty much memorized the book by now anyway. Plus they have a movie you can watch after you read the book. It isn't as good as the book in my opinion, they never are but if you want to watch it I own that too."

Phantom smiled at her before thinking of something. "When I am done with the book how will I get it back to you? Do you just want me to out it back in your room?"

Emily considered this for a second. "Well we could do that but how about we meet here once a week? That way I know you are okay and we can talk about what you have read in the book so far. Plus then I can actually see my friend."

Emily paused wondering if that was going to far. She didn't know how much Phantom actually enjoyed being in the human world. Plus they had only met a few times, would that be enough to be considered a friend? Gosh now she was sounding like a nervous kindergartener trying to make friends. Great.

Thankfully Phantom just smiled. "Sounds good. Same day and same place next week then?"

"Deal." She said smiling back at him.

Later on when Emily got back home it was already very late but she didn't feel tired. Her and Phantom had continued to talk for hours in the park and she had found many similarities between her and the ghost. This was something that actually made her feel slightly uncomfortable, not the fact that she had something in common with a dead person. No, it was the fact that people acted like they were so different from ghosts when all ghost had been human at one point. Heck it seemed Phantom still behaved like a normal fourteen year old, he even said he had homework. She also wondered how was that possible and why did he not seem to want to tell her?

Her mind was a mess thinking about all of the things that were different about Phantom. Everything that wasn't what she expected. So she got ready for bed thinking about what she could do to learn more about ghosts in general. Her knowledge was severely lacking for someone who lived in a town infested with ghosts.

Just as she was about to fall asleep an idea came to mind. It was a good idea but she wasn't sure how much she would learn from them, after all they didn't seem to know more about ghosts then the rest of them but who would have more information then the Fentons?

Maybe she would visit them tomorrow.


End file.
